An image acquiring apparatus for automatically selecting from 1D image signal and a 2D image signal is disclosed. The apparatus includes an image signal acquisition device selectably acquiring therethtrough the 1D image signal and the 2D image signal, an image acquisition control controlling the image signal acquisition device to selectably acquire one of the 1D image signal and the 2D image signal, a memory for storage, a pixel processing unit for processing one of the 1D image signal and the 2D image signal, an input/output interface, and a selecting mechanism for passing one of the 1D image signal and the 2D image signal through the pixel processing unit.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. An image acquiring apparatus comprising: an image signal acquisition device selectably acquiring theretrough a 1D image signal and a 2D image signal; an image acquisition control electrically connected to and controlling said image signal acquisition device to selectably acquire one of said 1D signal and said 2D signal; a memory electrically connected to said image acquisition control for storage; a pixel processing unit electrically connected to said image acquisition control for processing one of said 1D image signal and said 2D image signal; an input/output interface electrically connected to said image acquisition control; and a selecting mechanism electrically connected to said signal acquisition device for passing one of said 1D image signal and said 2D image signal through said pixel processing unit.
2. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said image acquisition device includes: a 1D analog acquisition unit for acquiring therethrough said 1D image signal; and a 2D analog acquisition unit for acquiring therethrough said 2D image signal.
3. An apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said 1D analog acquisition unit and said 2D analog acquisition unit are respectively a 1D image sensor and a 2D image sensor.
4. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said image acquisition device includes: a 1D image digitizer for acquiring theretrough said 1D image signal; and a 2D digital demodulating device for acquiring therethrough said 2D image signal.
5. An apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said 2D digital demodulating device includes a 2D sensor, an analog-to-digital converter and a digital demodulator.
6. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said image acquisition device includes: a 1D image means for acquiring therethrough said 1D image signal; and a 2D image means for acquiring therethrough said 2D image signal.
7. An apparatus according to claim 6 wherein each of said 1D image means and 2D image means includes an image sensing device and a signal digitizer.
8. An apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said signal digitizer is an analog-to-digital converter.
9. An apparatus according to claim 6 wherein each of said 1D image means and said 2D image means is an image sensor.
10. An apparatus according to claim 9 wherein said image sensor incorporates therein an image digitizer.
11. An apparatus according to claim 10 wherein said image digitizer is an analog-to-digital converter.
12. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said selecting mechanism is electrically connected to said pixel processing unit.
13. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said selecting mechanism is selecting switch controlled by a software built in said pixel processing unit.
14. An apparatus according to claim 13 wherein said selecting mechanism is a multiplexer.
15. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said selecting mechanism is built in said image acquisition device for discriminating said 1D image signal from from said 2D image signal.
16. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said selecting mechanism is electrically connected between said image acquisition device and said pixel processing unit.
17. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said selecting mechanism includes analog demodulating circuit and a multiplexer.
18. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said pixel processing unit is embedded into said image acquisition control.
19. An apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising another pixel processing unit so that said pixel processing units will respectively process said 1D image signal and said 2D image signal.
20. An apparatus according to claim 19 , further comprising another selecting mechanism, said two selecting mechanisms being interactive such that only one of said 1D image signal and said 2D image signal will pass trough a respective one of said pixel processing units at a time.
21. An apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising at least another pixel processing unit for serially processing one of said 1D image signal and said 2D image signal.
22. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said image acquisition device includes an analog-to-digital converter for digitalizing one of said 1D image signal and said 2D image signal.
23. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said image acquisition device includes two analog-to-digital converters for respectively digitalizing said 1D image signal and said 2D image signal.
24. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said pixel processing unit firer includes a common color pipeline module for performing color balance calibration to generate a specific image file format.
25. An apparatus according to claim 24 wherein said common color pipeline module includes a null operation.
26. An apparatus according to claim 24 wherein said common color pipeline module performs at least one function selected from a group consisting of signal linearization, gamma correction, color-space transformation, color balancing and matching processing.
27. An apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a computing device electrically connected to said input/output interface and provided with a common color pipeline module for performing color balance calibration to generate a specific image file format.
28. An apparatus according to claim 27 wherein said common color pipeline module includes a null operation.
29. An apparatus according to claim 27 wherein said common color pipeline module performs at least one function selected from a group consisting of signal linearization, gamma correction, color-space transformation, color balancing and matching processing.
30. An image acquiring apparatus comprising: an image signal acquisition device selectably acquiring theretrough a 1D image signal and a 2D image signal; a pixel processing unit electrically connected to said image signal acquisition device for processing one of said 1D image signal and said 2D image signal, an image acquisition control electrically connected to and controlling said pixel processing unit to selectably process one of said 1D image signal and said 2D image signal, a memory electrically connected to said image acquisition control for storage; an input/output interface electrically connected to said image acquisition control; and a selecting mechanism electrically connected to said image signal acquisition device for passing one of said 1D image signal and said 2D image signal through said pixel processing unit.
31. An apparatus according to claim 30 wherein said image acquisition device includes: a 1D analog acquisition unit for acquiring therethrough said 1D image signal; and a 2D analog acquisition unit for acquiring theretrough said 2D image signal.
32. An apparatus according to claim 30 wherein said image acquisition device includes: a 1D image digitizer for acquiring therethrough said 1D image signal; and a 2D digital demodulating device for acquiring therethrough said 2D image signal.
33. An apparatus according to claim 30 wherein said image acquisition device includes: a 1D image means for acquiring therethtrough said 1D image signal; and a 2D image means for acquiring theretrough said 2D image signal.
34. An apparatus according to claim 33 wherein each of said 1D image means and 2D image means includes an image sensing device and a signal digitizer.
35. An apparatus according to claim 33 wherein each of said 1D image means and 2D image means is an image sensor.
36. An image acquiring apparatus comprising: a hardware structure for acquiring therethrough one of a 1D image signal and a 2D image signal; and a singular driver module enabling said hardware structure to selectably acquire therethrough said one image signal, wherein said hardware structure comprises: an image signal acquisition device selectably acquiring therethrough a 1D image signal and a 2D image signal; a pixel processing unit electrically connected to said image acquisition device for processing one of said 1D image signal and said 2D image signal; an image acquisition control electrically connected to and controlling said pixel processing unit to selectably process one of said 1D image signal and said 2D image signal; a memory electrically connected to said image acquisition control for storage; an input/output interface electrically connected to said image acquisition control; and a selecting mechanism electrically connected to said image signal acquisition device for passing one of said 1D image signal and said 2D image signal through said pixel processing unit.
37. An apparatus according to claim 36 , further comprising an operating system interface means for cooperating with a TWAIN standard interface, a Still-Image-Architecture (Microsoft ) interface and a Video for Windows (Microsoft ) interface.
38. An apparatus according to claim 37 wherein said operating system interface means includes two operating system interfaces, one of which cooperates with said TWAIN interface and the other of which cooperates with one of said Still-Image-Architecture interface and said Video for Windows interface.
39. An apparatus according to claim 36 wherein said selecting mechanism is embedded into said driver module.
40. An image acquiring apparatus comprising: a hardware structure for acquiring therethrough one of a 1D image signal and a 2D image signal; and a singular driver module enabling said hardware structure to selectably acquire therethrough said one image signal; wherein said hardware structure comprises: an image signal acquisition device selectably acquiring therethrough a 1D image signal and a 2D image signal; an image acquisition control electrically connected to and controlling said image signal acquisition device to selectably acquire one of said 1D image signal and said 2D image signal; a memory electrically connected to said image acquisition control for storage; a pixel processing unit electrically connected to said image acquisition control for processing one of said 1D image signal and said 2D image signal; an input/output interface electrically connected to said image acquisition control; and a selecting mechanism electrically connected to said image signal acquisition device for passing one of said 1D image signal and said 2D image signal through said pixel processing unit.
41. An apparatus according to claim 40 wherein said selecting mechanism is embedded into said driver module.
42. An apparatus according to claim 40 wherein said image acquisition device includes: a 1D analog acquisition unit for acquiring therethrough said 1D image signal; and a 2D analog acquisition unit for acquiring therethrough said 2D image signal.
43. An apparatus according to claim 40 wherein said image acquisition device includes: a 1D image digitizer for acquiring therethrough said 1D image signal; and a 2D digital demodulating device for acquiring therethtrough said 2D image signal.
44. An apparatus according to claim 40 wherein said image acquisition device includes: a 1D image means for acquiring therethrough said 1D image signal; and a 2D image means for acquiring theretrough said 2D image signal.
45. An apparatus according to claim 44 wherein each of said 1D image means and 2D image means includes an image sensing device and a signal digitizer.
46. An apparatus according to claim 44 wherein each of said 1D image means and 2D image means is an image sensor.
47. An apparatus according to claim 46 wherein said image sensor incorporates therein a signal digitizer.
48. An apparatus according to claim 40 wherein said driver module utilizes a common application interface definition to transfer data with said hardware structure.
49. An image acquiring apparatus comprising: a hardware structure for acquiring therethrough one of a 1D image signal and a 2D image signal; a singular driver module enabling said hardware structure to selectably acquire therethrough said one image signal; and an operating system interface means for cooperating with a TWAIN standard interface, a Still-Image-Architecture (Microsoft ) interface and a Video for Windows (Microsoft ) interface.
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July 21, 1998
June 11, 2002
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